Ludwig Renn's War

[Paul Hederer]

I picked up a copy of Ludwig Renn's "Krieg," in German while on holidays, and I know it's been translated into English for a very long time.

I'm curious--reading it, I'm finding it of almost the same cailbre as "All's Quiet..." by Remarque, and I'm wondering what other list members thought of the book.

Just seems strange that it doesn't seem to have the same mystique surrounding it that Remarque's book has, or is that just my perception?

Paul

[gporta]

I suppose there are a large number of factors involved... maybe "All quiet..." was published first, or maybe it came in the right moment and the right place (trite sentence, yes, but often so true). I would likely say that "Storms of Steel" is not as famous as Remarque's novel, and equally good... OK, it is a memoir -not a novel- and rather well-known, but then, you're right "All quiet in the Western Front" rings a bell even in the minds of those not familiar -or interested- in the Great War subject.

On my part (and to put a similar example), I have the impression that Sherriffs' Play "Journey's end" seems to overshadow any other english-language play on the subject... I like it, and yet I prefer O'Casey's "The Silver tassie", which I understand that hasn't had as many revivals (even though, as G. B. Shaw enthusiasticallycelabrated, is "one h**ll of a play")

BTW, do you have details of the english translation (publisher, etc) (you got me curious on it!). Is it a novel or a memoir?

Gloria

[Paul Hederer]

Gloria,

I don't have the English language "War," but I looked up some details on-line and the latest edition is:

War by Ludwig Renn, translated Edwin Muir, Willa Muir,

ISBN: 0865273243

Publisher: Howard Fertig

Publish Date: March, 1988

Binding: Hardcover

First edition: Secker, London 1929, same translation.

Here is a description I pulled off the internet:

The author was a German named Arnold F.V. von Golssenau writing under a pseudonym. From the dustjacket of the American Edition:

Set against the titanic background of the Great War, it [the book] stands out as a plain, unvarnished account of an ordinary soldier's life during the advance through Belgium, then in the trench war, and finally during the time that the German morale was breaking up. The characters are relatively few, the chief protagonist being the man who writes the account, a corporal in the infantry. Yet so simply and truthfully have his experiences been told that one feels he is reading in them not the record of one man but that of countless thousands.

In this book, at last, we have the answer to those insistent questions, How did the enemy feel? What did he think of it all? What was his attitude towards us? And we have an unforgettable picture, as far as words can portray it, of the greatest human spectacle in all history, the Great War, as one man saw and lived it.

From the chapter titled "The Battle of the Somme": We were packed in the narrow trench, with half the company behind us. The firing grew more violent. We scrambled out of the front of the trench. The wood was thick and full of broken branches. A few paces further on we were caught fast in barbed wire, which was invisible in the tangle of boughs. Bullets whizzed and rattled among the trees. Branches snapped. Beyond the edge of the wood there were small spurts of fire here and there in the meadows, and puffs of smoke could be seen on the ground in the grey light of dawn. The crashing and spitting reverberated in one's helmet so that one could not distinguish any particular sound. I saw only that there were shrapnel and shells. We stuck on wire again. On the ground I noticed the water jacket of a machine gun, and a dirty white face in a steel helmet.

In his "War Books", Cyril Falls wrote: The author, or at any rate the hero, saw the War through from start to finish on the Western Front, and he records his impressions almost without comment and with that simplicity which is one of the truest forms of literary art......when one looks back on his book one realises how well worth reading it was.

[truthergw]

Gloria,

  I don't have the English language "War," but I looked up some details on-line and the latest edition is:

War by Ludwig Renn, translated Edwin Muir, Willa Muir,

ISBN: 0865273243

Publisher: Howard Fertig

Publish Date: March, 1988

Binding: Hardcover

First edition: Secker, London 1929, same translation.

  Here is a description I pulled off the internet:

The author was a German named Arnold F.V. von Golssenau writing under a pseudonym. From the dustjacket of the American Edition:

Set against the titanic background of the Great War, it [the book] stands out as a plain, unvarnished account of an ordinary soldier's life during the advance through Belgium, then in the trench war, and finally during the time that the German morale was breaking up. The characters are relatively few, the chief protagonist being the man who writes the account, a corporal in the infantry. Yet so simply and truthfully have his experiences been told that one feels he is reading in them not the record of one man but that of countless thousands.

In this book, at last, we have the answer to those insistent questions, How did the enemy feel? What did he think of it all? What was his attitude towards us? And we have an unforgettable picture, as far as words can portray it, of the greatest human spectacle in all history, the Great War, as one man saw and lived it.

From the chapter titled "The Battle of the Somme": We were packed in the narrow trench, with half the company behind us. The firing grew more violent. We scrambled out of the front of the trench. The wood was thick and full of broken branches. A few paces further on we were caught fast in barbed wire, which was invisible in the tangle of boughs. Bullets whizzed and rattled among the trees. Branches snapped. Beyond the edge of the wood there were small spurts of fire here and there in the meadows, and puffs of smoke could be seen on the ground in the grey light of dawn. The crashing and spitting reverberated in one's helmet so that one could not distinguish any particular sound. I saw only that there were shrapnel and shells. We stuck on wire again. On the ground I noticed the water jacket of a machine gun, and a dirty white face in a steel helmet.

In his "War Books", Cyril Falls wrote: The author, or at any rate the hero, saw the War through from start to finish on the Western Front, and he records his impressions almost without comment and with that simplicity which is one of the truest forms of literary art......when one looks back on his book one realises how well worth reading it was.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Available from Naval & Military for about £12.

[gporta]

Paul, Tom,

Thanks for the info. With the details I'll be able to get any of the editions. It's a long wish-list ahead, but, from the intro and excerpt sounds worth reading. Maybe I'll check bookfinder.com (or alibris.com) for the 1929 printing: I like old books with nice old-style binding.

Gloria

[Paul Hederer]

Hmm, still no comment from any Pal having actually read "War." I thought this was a pretty standard work...seems it must truly be a sleeper .

Strange considering the interest shown in German accounts of the war a few months back.

von Golssenau (Renn) was a serving infantry officer on the Western Front, and his combat experience was much more extensive than Remarques.

Paul